The tremendous amount of paper being generated today by all different types of businesses is creating an ever increasing storage problem. The cost of office space is such that an efficiency run business cannot afford the luxury of setting aside useful "people-space" for the storage of dead files. Also, the traditional lockable metal file cabinet of good reasonably fire-resistant quality runs close to a thousand dollars in the larger sizes, if not more. Even the cheaper ones cost too much to use for dead storage.
Accordingly, relatively inexpensive cardboard file storage cartons have become increasingly popular for use in the storage of files that need to be saved but are seldom accessed. Moreover, when large numbers of these files exist, the tendency is to store them off-site where the rent per square foot is less than in the primary office facility. A valuable adjunct are those off-site storage facilities run by third parties who will pick up, store and retrieve files for a modest monthly fee or some other comparable arrangement. To operate such a facility efficiently, however, takes more than just throwing the files into a box and piling the boxes on top of one another.
To begin with, one essential is to have a box or carton which is specially designed to accommodate the particular type of file to be stored of which there are many. Secondly, the file storage cartons must be stackable several high without crushing the contents. Most significant of all, however, is the ability to access a file in a particular carton without having to unpile or otherwise disturb the stack. Finally, and equally important, has to be the ability to read the identifying indicia on the individual files without having to remove them from the carton.